Those summoned by Hyang gathered at Area 51’s artillery testing ground. It was an impressive facility stretching over 10 li (approximately 4 kilometers) from end to end.
What caught the attention of those gathered was the wings that had successfully demonstrated flight along the Han River days earlier.
Seeing the wings placed where artillery pieces usually stood, Wan and the young craftsmen wore peculiar expressions mixing joy and sorrow.
On one hand, it was a monumental device that had demonstrated the self-powered flight they had dreamed of; on the other, it had rendered their own work seemingly meaningless.
“Is everyone here?”
Hearing Hyang’s voice from behind, Wan and the young craftsmen hastily bowed.
“We greet His Imperial Majesty.”
“Well done. You may rise. I’m here not as Emperor but as Senior Research Institute Director.”
At Hyang’s words, Wan and the craftsmen straightened their postures. Watching them, Hyang asked Wan:
“Director, doesn’t this wing apparatus look familiar somehow?”
“Pardon?”
Examining the wings carefully at Hyang’s words, Wan shook his head.
“I’m not sure, Your Majesty.”
“Have you forgotten the things you first made when attempting to fly?”
At Hyang’s follow-up question, Wan and the craftsmen examined the wings again. After a while, they simultaneously exclaimed:
“Ah!”
“Now that you mention it!”
Wan turned to Hyang and answered:
“Though the shape differs greatly from what your humble son and the craftsmen made, the configuration seems similar.”
“Can you identify what’s different?”
“The bird-head shape is gone, and vertical stabilizers have been added.”
“And?”
“And… uh…”
Examining the wings again meticulously from nose to tail, Wan and the young craftsmen soon reported more differences.
“More iron was used than in what we made!”
“But not excessively so!”
“The wing area, both upper and lower, is at least twice that of what we made!”
Inspecting the wings with the craftsmen, Wan tilted his head.
“With this, maintaining the shape would be… Ah! Is that why these wires were added? Do the wires support the wing shape?”
“The Crown Prince is correct. And what difference do these changes make?”
At Hyang’s question, Wan and the craftsmen put their heads together to discuss. After much debate, Wan answered Hyang:
“According to what we discovered then, larger wings catch more wind and can lift more easily. This is the same reason large birds like cranes and eagles have large wings.”
“Correct. So why did you fail while I succeeded?”
“That…”
When Wan and the young craftsmen couldn’t properly answer, Hyang’s direct criticism struck:
“Why add a bird head? It only makes balance and control more difficult.”
“Ah!”
At Hyang’s point, Wan and the young craftsmen realized their mistake. Hyang’s speech had shifted to informal language.
“Modeling after flying birds was good, but you should have thought one step further.”
“Ah…”
“And the bigger mistake… Crown Prince, do you remember what I said then?”
At Hyang’s question, Wan briefly searched his memory before answering with a reddened face:
“You said it was like a crawling baby trying to run.”
“Right. The report you submitted then already included plans for a steam engine. Now you understand why that was problematic, right?”
“Yes. The weight would be too great.”
“Correct. You were getting ahead of yourself before even creating something that could properly fly.”
Finishing his words, Hyang commanded Jang Yeong-sil:
“Bring the internal combustion multi-blade propulsion system and explain it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Jang Yeong-sil brought the turboprop engine, the product of ‘Plan A,’ and explained its configuration.
Wan and the young craftsmen listened intently with sparkling eyes to Jang Yeong-sil’s explanation. It was a rare opportunity to directly see an invention by the ‘Living Legend of Craftsmen’ while hearing the creator’s own explanation. Thus, they concentrated fully to not miss a single detail.
When the explanation finished, Hyang asked Wan and the craftsmen:
“Do you understand what the problem is?”
“Yes!”
“If we solve that problem and complete a proper engine, no, if we create a small but powerful steam engine working on a similar configuration, we could complete not only superior wings but also self-powered flying vessels!”
Steam engines again… Even though I’m a steampunk enthusiast, you too…
Inwardly grumbling at Wan’s response, Hyang ordered Jang Yeong-sil again:
“Bring that.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Shortly after, Jang Yeong-sil and other craftsmen pulled in a covered cart.
When Jang Yeong-sil removed the covering, there was a one-third scale model of the wings.
“See what differences there are from that one.”
After examining the scale model, Wan reported to Hyang:
“More iron was used than in the large wings. And there’s no propeller.”
“Could this fly?”
“The weight would make it difficult.”
“What if it had a powerful propulsion system?”
“Even then, the weight would make it impossible.”
At Wan’s answer, Hyang gestured to Jang Yeong-sil. At Hyang’s signal, Jang Yeong-sil brought two powder chambers and attached them to the model’s wings.
“Are those Divine Fire Arrow powder chambers?”
“No? They’re a bit larger…”
As the craftsmen murmured among themselves, Jang Yeong-sil lit the fuses connected to the powder chambers.
WHOOSH!
Moments later, with a thunderous noise and smoke, the scale model shot into the sky. The wings glinted as they flew nearly halfway across the firing range before falling to earth.
Seeing this, Hyang asked Wan:
“It flew, didn’t it? Quite well too.”
“…”
When the demonstration ended, Wan and the craftsmen were thoroughly deflated.
What have we been doing?
They say it’s like writing characters before Confucius… That’s exactly what we were doing.
Seeing the discouraged Wan and craftsmen, Hyang continued:
“Why do you think Jang Yeong-sil and I showed you this today? Was it mere boasting?”
“…”
There was no answer to Hyang’s question from Wan and the craftsmen. They simply couldn’t guess what Hyang wanted to say. Finally, Wan stepped forward as representative and raised the white flag.
“Your son is still too foolish to understand Father’s deep meaning. Please provide us with the answer.”
“Then let me put it differently. There’s a European saying that ‘All roads lead to Rome.’ What do you think this means?”
“Isn’t it like the Buddhist saying that ‘All streams return to one source’?”
“That’s one interpretation. But think about it differently.”
After pondering Hyang’s words deeply, Wan looked at him with an expression that seemed to say “surely not.”
“Could you be referring to the Hundred Schools of Thought contending?”
“Correct. ‘All roads lead to Rome’ – thought about differently, it means ‘There isn’t just one road to Rome.’ This applies directly to what you’re doing now. Would there only be flying vessels, or only wings, to achieve the goal of ‘flying’?”
“Ah…”
Wan and the young craftsmen all nodded at Hyang’s words. Hyang continued speaking to the young men:
“Today’s demonstration wasn’t to boast to you. I arranged this because you seemed to have forgotten your original grand ambition of ‘flying’ and became fixated solely on flying vessels and steam engines. Ah! But don’t make the mistake of immediately abandoning flying vessels for wings. Flying vessels have their uses, just as wings have theirs. What I want you to remember is to keep your original intent while maintaining a broad perspective.”
At Hyang’s words, Wan and the young craftsmen bowed their heads simultaneously and responded loudly:
“We shall engrave it in our bones and hearts!”
After Hyang’s teaching concluded, the young craftsmen returned to the flying vessel development room. Meanwhile, Wan, who remained until the end, carefully addressed Hyang:
“Your teaching was truly like gold and jade. I shall engrave it in my bones and heart.”
“As you should. The same applies to state affairs.”
“But viewing things so broadly would require much time and budget…”
“That’s for you to solve. Aren’t you the Director?”
“…”
Wan could only close his mouth with a dejected expression at Hyang’s words.
As a side note: Jang Yeong-sil’s turboprop engine and rocket-propelled wings shown at this demonstration were sealed in the deepest part of Area 51’s storage.
The rocket-propelled wings were particularly problematic. With only a demonstration and no proper explanation, the accompanying court historian recorded:
-A wings apparatus made entirely of iron flew approximately 5 li, emitting great flames and smoke behind it with a thunderous noise.
Later, when the Imperial Records were made public, this section became central to conspiracy theories:
- A crashed UFO is hidden in Area 51. The historian’s description clearly indicates a rocket, no, a UFO.
- The technology level was too primitive to complete repairs.
- The technology obtained from the UFO was behind the Great Leap period, subsequent stagnation, and the supernatural technological development of the empire’s early period!
When these conspiracy theories became a global issue, the Federation’s response was succinct:
“Write nonsense, will you.”
“Then reveal all of Area 51 and 52, no, all fifty areas!”
“Areas 51 and 52 are top-secret facilities. They cannot be revealed. And only Areas 51 and 52 exist in the Federation.”
“That makes no sense! They should be Areas 1 and 2 then. Why start with 51 and 52!”
“It’s historical fact that the Emperor’s naming ability was the worst.”
“Stop lying!”
“Have some faith when people talk! Want to fight? Shall we go at it?”
“Why mention war whenever something comes up! You historical thugs!”
Hyang’s words to Wan and the craftsmen at Area 51 soon spread among officials.
Most officials who heard Hyang’s words through rumors nodded in agreement.
“Keep your original intent while maintaining broad vision… Truly excellent words.”
“Words like gold and jade indeed.”
While many evaluated it positively, there were also those who viewed it negatively.
The representative of such critics was Lee Sachul, the Minister of Education.
Three days after the Area 51 demonstration, Lee Sachul submitted a memorial to Hyang.
The memorial’s content could be summarized as follows:
- Your Majesty’s words to the Crown Prince seem right at first glance, but are incorrect.
- Saying there isn’t just one path to a goal could be interpreted as teaching that taking deviant paths[1], not just righteous paths[2], is acceptable to achieve one’s goals. In other words, it could become a teaching that harming others for one’s own benefit is acceptable.
- Generally, though there may appear to be many paths, there is only one righteous path, just as we learn the meaning of ancient sages through Zhu Xi’s teachings.
“Whew~”
After reading Lee Sachul’s memorial, Hyang let out a long sigh and glared at Lee Sachul seated in Geunjeongjeon Hall.
After catching his breath, Hyang questioned Lee Sachul:
“Minister of Education, I shall ask. Answer.”
“Please inquire, Your Majesty.”
Not only Lee Sachul who answered, but the surrounding ministers became tense. The tone in Hyang’s voice was unlike any they had heard before.
“When climbing a mountain, one person follows the known path, while another, wanting to climb faster, risks danger by scaling steep rocks. In this case, has the latter taken a deviant path? Has he harmed others?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
“My own words were similar, so how are they incorrect?”
“The example Your Majesty just gave is merely an extreme case to justify your words.”
“So you’re saying my meaning was wrong?”
“It seems right at first glance. However, the common people are fundamentally foolish and greedy by nature, so no matter how good Your Majesty’s intent, they often misinterpret it. Therefore, I believe it is right to prevent such teachings from the start.”
“You fool!”
As soon as Lee Sachul finished speaking, Hyang’s thundering voice shook Geunjeongjeon Hall.
“What is your duty? Education! Your job is to nurture the future pillars who will be responsible for the empire’s endless development and peace! Yet what do you mean by your words now?
‘The common people are fundamentally foolish and greedy by nature’?
Have you forgotten that you too are one of the common people!
Yes! As you say, violating human and heavenly principles and harming good customs for one’s goals is extremely wrong! Isn’t education meant to prevent that! Is your education about saying ‘this is wrong for this reason, that is wrong for that reason, so learn and follow only what I teach’? Is your education aimed at nurturing pillars who will benefit humanity by examining things broadly, or at raising livestock that can merely understand words and writing!”
“Your Majesty, that’s not what I…”
“Silence! It is said that scholars should have firm resolve while maintaining broad vision and examining all things. But you’re trying to raise livestock, not scholars! The empire has no need for officials like you! Submit your resignation immediately!”
“Your Majesty!”
Though Lee Sachul called out to Hyang while coughing blood, Hyang shouted to Hwang Hui:
“Prime Minister, hear this! Accept his resignation and submit it to me immediately!”
At Hyang’s words, Hwang Hui quietly bowed his head.
“I shall obey your command.”
Thus, Lee Sachul became the first recipient of “recommended resignation” among imperial officials.